


Trapped

by Croatoanvirus2014



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 08:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3644406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Croatoanvirus2014/pseuds/Croatoanvirus2014
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl may have realized some feelings he hadn't expected while trapped in that car with Aaron</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trapped

            The last thing Daryl had expected was to be trapped inside of a car, surrounded by walkers, with Aaron of all people. For the longest time he had gotten used to walkers, used to even being trapped sometimes, but never thought that this would happen. He had to admit that it sucked, especially since he had developed some sort of feelings towards Aaron that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. He knew that he definitely felt like more than just a friend to him, but beyond that he had no clue. His brother’s voice nagged in the back of his head, telling him that he’d burn in hell if he loved another guy, which made him not want to even think about that possibility, but even that couldn’t stop him from thinking, and he knew Aaron could tell that something was up.

            “Hey so uh, how long do you think we’re going to be trapped here?” Aaron asked in a panicky voice.

            “Hell if I know,” Daryl replied in a defeated tone of voice. Silence spread through the small space, and not the good kind. It was the sort of silence that made you want to never say another word again, feeling that if the silence was broken again that it could only become even more off. Of course, Aaron decided to break the silence, mainly due to his worrying and trying to get his mind off of his seemingly inevitable death.

            “You know what? Let’s talk about something happier. That’ll totally work, right?” He hoped, trying to urge Daryl to talk instead of just give up entirely.

            “Yeah, maybe. What you wanna talk ‘bout?”

            “I don’t even know. Maybe before the zombie outbreak when I still had my parents? They loved me a lot, and I remember when I brought home my first boyfriend they gave me a huge hug and just accepted me, and I’ll always just remember that as a happy moment, you know?”

            “Wish I knew,” Daryl replied with a self-defeating laugh, “All I heard from my brother growin’ up is that if I ever wanted to love some guy, then I’d burn in hell,” He continued, trying to end this discussion as quickly as he could. He could hear the walkers outside the car getting quieter, and just assumed that an animal nearby must’ve just died and they were heading towards it.

            “Oh uh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

            “Ain’t your fault,” Daryl responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

            “But now I’ve got to ask, and you don’t have to respond if you don’t want to, but do you like guys? Like, in a romantic way?”

            Daryl blushed slightly, but decided to just remain silent, hoping Aaron would take the hint and not push any further.

            “It’s okay if you do, you know,” Aaron told him. For the first time ever, really, Daryl finally felt accepted, which gave him enough courage to actually confess to Aaron that yeah, he did like guys.

            “But see, I also like girls in the same way,” He added on. “So I don’t really know for sure.”

            “I just see it as love whoever you want to,” Aaron replied. Daryl could finally hear the walkers outside the car moving away, and now only a few of them were banging at the windows. _Well, maybe we won’t die._ Relief seemed to wash over him, both from knowing he wasn’t going to die, and that his feelings for Aaron may not be so unusual after all. Of course, telling him about that was going to be even worse, and probably humiliating, but he knew that eventually he would have to. The last time he had loved somebody, she had died before he was able to tell her that he loved her, and he knew that he couldn’t put himself through that. Not again. _Well, I guess now would be better than later,_ he figured. _But he’s already got Erik,_ Daryl reminded himself. Eventually, after a few hours of slight uncomfortable silence, all but two of the walkers had cleared out.

            “Well, guess it’s safe now,” Daryl commented, “Don’t worry. I got the two outside the car.”

            The doors of the car creaked open loudly, and Daryl swung his crossbow through one walker’s head while Aaron stabbed the other with his knife.

            “You know, we do make a pretty great team,” Aaron said, causing Daryl to smile for probably the first time since Beth had died. Immediately after, he gulped and looked towards the ground, not wanting to face Aaron. Not wanting to confess anything. Not wanting to tell Aaron that maybe he did actually love him, and that he felt guilty as shit for it because he was already taken and he knew it and yet he still fell for him anyways. They walked back to Alexandria a bit closer than they usually did; Daryl’s crossbow slung over his shoulder, Aaron’s knife in his front pocket, both of them ready to take down more walkers if any crossed their paths. Leaves crunched under their boots, which was the only thing guaranteeing that it wasn’t completely quiet. They reached the fence right after sunset, both of them avoiding looking at each other. Not out of hatred, but out of fear.

            “Hey uh, have a good night, I guess,” Daryl mumbled before walking towards where Carol had been living. He could always count on her to give some sort of advice, and she was sort of like an older sister or mother-like figure to him. He couldn’t tell, but he still preferred her company over most.

            “You too, and hey, if you ever need to talk to anybody about anything, I’m here for you, and I just want you to know that,” Aaron responded, stopping Daryl in his tracks. He turned around slowly and walked towards Aaron, nervous as could be. He gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and tried to run off, but Aaron caught him by the wrist.

            “Hey, don’t just run off, okay? I know you don’t want to talk about anything, but I also know that keeping secrets isn’t a good thing, especially when every moment now could potentially be a life or death situation.” Daryl stayed silent, too afraid to talk. He had meant to just run to Carol’s house after, and tell her what an idiot he was, and how terrible he felt, and just tell her everything that had happened the last few days. The last person he wanted to tell anything to was Aaron, but when he pulled him into a hug a few seconds later, he knew he couldn’t avoid it anymore. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. His brother’s voice was still in his head, telling him to stop crying, to man up, to go find some pretty girl to settle down with.

            “Listen, I think I might…” Daryl paused before choking out the words “love you” as he started to cry. Aaron just held him closer, knowing that he wasn’t going to let go for a while longer. He knew that Erik would probably be annoyed when he came home late, and he knew that eventually he would have to tell Erik that even though he loved him to death, that he loved Daryl just as much, and that he was going to regret going back to his house in the morning because it would no longer be a home. Somehow, all of that didn’t seem to matter at the moment.

            “It’s okay. I feel the same way, believe it or not,” Aaron told him, hating himself for finally admitting it out loud.

            “You’ve got Erik though,” Daryl spat back, “You can’t just leave him.”

            “I know, and I love Erik, I do, but I also love you,” He replied. Daryl was still wrapped in his arms, and he didn’t want to move, but just standing there all night wasn’t going to help either, so they both agreed to just go over to Carol’s house, knowing that at least neither of them would be judged there. Daryl wiped the few tears that had formed with his sleeve, and walked with Aaron to Carol’s house and knocked on the door. She opened it within seconds, and smiled at them both.

            “Listen, can we stay the night here? Let’s just say shit happened and you’re kind of the only person who I feel comfortable around right now,” Daryl said. Carol just nodded her head and motioned for them to come in.

            “There’s an extra bedroom upstairs. I’ll be asleep, so just try not to wake me, and I’ll probably make something for breakfast in the morning for the three of us,” She told them before heading up to her room. It was a smaller house, which meant smaller rooms, but since it was just her it was perfectly fine. Aaron and Daryl headed up to the guest bedroom, both of them leaving their weapons near the door.

            “By the way, the reason I told you was because the last person I loved died before I could tell them, just in case you were wonderin’,” Daryl blurted out, letting himself be vulnerable again. He hated the feeling, but knowing that his feelings weren’t going to be used against him was comforting. Aaron gave him a small frown before sitting down on the bed, which was big enough to fit both of them on it with plenty of room to spare. Daryl flopped down on the bed, wanting to just fall asleep after their long day.

            “Well, guess it’s a good thing I didn’t die then, isn’t it?”

            “Yeah, guess so,” Daryl said, turning over to lie on his back. Though there was plenty of space, both of them decided to move closer to each other. Though they weren’t touching, they were underneath the same blanket, which was close enough for both of them right now. Maybe the next day they would move a bit closer, or hold hands, and maybe in a month or so they would finally kiss for real, but for now, just being close to each other was enough, and that was all it took for both of them to finally get the first night of good sleep either of them had in a long time.


End file.
